All Chapters of REJECTED LUNA RETURNS : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Rose's POVThe silk of my wedding dress felt cool against my skin. My mother's dress. The one she wore when she married my father thirty years ago, back when their union was called the strongest alliance the eastern territories had ever seen.The pack seamstress had altered it to fit me, her hands trembling the whole time. I remembered watching my mother dance in this same dress at pack gatherings, her dark hair loose and wild. She died giving me life. My father never remarried. Everything he had went into me, his only child.Tonight I would honor that."You're shaking, my lady." Lyra tucked a crown of winter jasmine into my hair. "Nervous?"I met my own eyes in the mirror. "Happy," I said. "I'm happy."And I was. Ethan had courted me for two years, sending letters and gifts from three days' ride away. He was heir to the Silver Creek Pack. Our marriage would end decades of border fighting between our people. My father had wept when the treaty was signed."A worthy match," he'd told me

Rose's POVThe road stretched on through the ancient forest.Eight days. Eight days since the Blood Moon. Since I watched my father die, watched my best friend show her true face, watched three strangers die for a bride they'd never met.My body had adapted to survival mode even if my mind hadn't caught up. The sharp edge of grief had dulled into a constant ache that lived in my bones. My shoulder throbbed under Edwin's poultices, but I'd learned to move with the pain instead of fighting it. My ribs had healed enough that I could breathe without seeing stars. My feet had blistered, calloused, and blistered again.I was becoming someone else. Someone harder. Someone who kept walking when every instinct screamed to collapse.Edwin walked beside me, his steps shorter now, favoring his bad arm. The wound from the ambush had festered before he could treat it properly, and even after cleaning it with river water and wild herbs, the infection lingered. He hadn't complained. He'd barely spoke

Rose's POVThe fire cracked in the hearth, shadows moving across the stone walls. I stood in the center of the room, hands clenched at my sides, heart hammering.Aiden hadn't moved since I walked in. He stood like something carved from dark stone, unreadable, impossibly still. The firelight caught the sharp line of his jaw, the scar running temple to jaw, the river-gray eyes fixed on me."You look like her," he said. "My aunt. Your mother."I steadied my voice. "You remember her?""I remember everything." He stepped closer and I fought the urge to step back. "I remember the day she died giving birth to you. My father's grief. Your father refusing to let me see her body."The accusation sat there, old and sharp. "I was a child. I had no control over that.""I know. I'm not blaming you. I'm telling you what I've carried."Another step. I could see the shadows under his eyes now."Three weeks," he said. "Running. Wounded. Alone. Through Silver Creek territory. And you came to me.""Where

Rose's POVSleep came in fragments that night, each one shattered by the same dream. Blood on white petals. My father's hand reaching for me. Fiona's laughter echoing through the ruins of everything I'd loved.I woke gasping, the sheets twisted around my legs, my heart slamming against my ribs.The room was dark. The river whispered beyond the window. I pressed my palms to my eyes and forced myself to breathe.You're alive. You're safe. They can't hurt you here.But they could. Aiden had made that clear. My usefulness was the only thing keeping me alive. The moment I stopped being valuable—I shoved the thought away. I couldn't afford to think like that. Not if I wanted to survive.I rose before dawn, pulling on the same clothes from yesterday. My body screamed. Every muscle, every bruise, every scraped knuckle announced itself with fresh fire. I ignored it.The courtyard was empty when I arrived. Mist curled off the river, thick and cold. I stood in the center of the training ground

Rose's POVThe afternoon sun was warm on my face as I walked along the riverbank. Training was over for the day. Gunnar had worked me until my arms shook and my legs felt like water. But I was getting better. Faster. Stronger.I found a flat rock near the water's edge and sat down. The river moved past, dark and deep, carrying leaves and twigs toward the sea. I watched it for a while, letting my mind go quiet.The hum was there. Beneath everything. The Old Moon blood, waiting.I closed my eyes and tried what Aiden had taught me. Breathe. Feel. Don't push.The hum grew stronger. Just a little. Like a pulse I could almost touch."Mind if I join you?"I opened my eyes. Helen stood there, a basket in her hands."Of course," I said.She sat down beside me, her movements slow and careful. I noticed the way she held herself—like she was in pain. Old pain. The kind that never fully healed."You're getting better," she said. "I can feel it. The bloodline waking up.""Gunnar says I'm too stiff.